Peres to represent Israel at UN General Assembly

President to explain why Netanyahu can't agree to freeze extension; will discuss Iranian threat with ME leaders including Turkish President Gul.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Shimon Peres 311 (photo credit: AP)
Shimon Peres 311
(photo credit: AP)
President Shimon Peres left for New York on Saturday night to represent Israel at the summit meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, convened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to accelerate progress toward achieving the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, the deadline for which is 2015.
The summit meeting, to which leaders of all UN member states have been invited, will take place in New York from September 20-22.
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The major goal of the summit meeting is to find a more rapid means of significantly reducing poverty, hunger, disease and childbirth fatalities.
While in New York, Peres, together with other world leaders, will also participate in the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative.
The CGI was established by former US president Bill Clinton in 2005 to turn ideas into action and to help the world move beyond the state of globalization to a more integrated global community of shared benefits, responsibilities and values.
Peres will address the millennium summit, as will US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France.
In the course of his address to the UN, Peres will explain that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is unable to agree to an extension of the moratorium on construction, simply because, given the mood in Israel, it would be a pledge he would be unable to keep.
The president’s speech, at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Israel time, will be broadcast live.
On Tuesday, Peres will speak at a special CGI session devoted to the Middle East, with the participation of other regional leaders including Turkish President Abdullah Gul and the Crown Prince of Bahrain Sheikh Salman al-Khalifa. In addition to presenting his vision of peace, Peres will emphasize the dangers hovering over the world at large if Iran is permitted to continue with its nuclear program.
Peres will also take advantage of the opportunity to meet on a one-to-one basis with other world leaders, the aim being to get them to understand the severity of the Iranian threat – not only in terms of its nuclear projects, but also insofar as Iran supports terrorism in its ambition to rule the Middle East; and after that the world.
Between his addresses and his meetings with world leaders, Peres will give several media interviews with the aim of conveying Israel’s message as far afield as possible.